References and Parodies
The following is a list of the many different references, homages and parodies WACK have made towards other artists and media. Stage Names * Peri Ubu is a parody of the American rock band Pere Ubu. * Chantmonkee is a parody of the Japanese rock band chatmonchy. * Neo Trees is a parody of the American rock band Neon Trees. * Tsukino Usagi is the civilian name of popular anime Sailor Moon's titular character. * Yukako Love Deluxe combines the first name of Yukako Yamagishi, a character from the manga series Jojo's Bizzarre Adventure, and the name of her stand, Love Deluxe. * Cent Chihiro Chittiii parodies the title of the animated film [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spirited_Away Spirited Away (Sen to Chihiro no Kamikakushi)]. * Mewclub parodies the idol group Onyanko Club. * The names of SiS members, Kanabun, Son Sion and Coco Chanel parodied/referenced the band KANA-BOON, the name of the film director Sion Sono, and the name of the fashion designer Coco Chanel, respectively. * Momoland is likely a reference to the K-Pop girl group of the same name. Music BiS * The single cover for nerve references the logo for NERV from anime Neon Genesis Evangelion, albeit censored due to copyright laws. * The music video for Paprika is a tribute to Russian pop duo t.A.T.u. and the video to their song All the Things She Said, which caused controversy in the early 2000's for featuring lesbian kissing scenes. * I wish I was SpecIaL references Stay Gold by Japanese punk band Hi-Standard with the line "I think that I may shine keeping gold" and the all English lyrics. * primal. references the song of the same name by Japanese punk band The Yellow Monkey with it's chorus. The line "今度は何をほら食べようか?" (kondo wa nani wo hora tabeyouka?) is a reference to a similar line in The Yellow Monkey's song "今度は何を食べようか?" (kondo wa nani wo tabeyouka?) * BiS also covered The Yellow Monkey's song with the title written in katakana as "プライマル。" on their album WHO KiLLED IDOL. * Gives references the Sheena Ringo song ギブス (Gips) with both it's name and the line 哀 罠 美 with 憂 !! (pronounced like "I wanna be with you!!"), mimicking the line "i 罠 B wiθ U" (also pronounced like "I wanna be with you"). * WHOLE LOTTA LOVE is named after the Led Zeppelin song of the same name. * Are you ready? is a song inspired by Bohemian Rhapsody and the life of Freddie Mercury. The opening line "papa" parodies one of Bohemian Rhapsody's iconic lines, "mama", while the line "WE WILL ROCK YOU", clearly references the eponymous Queen song. The BiS song is also 11:24, which references Freddie Mercury's date of death. * The lyrics of Are you ready? also reference the song Killing in the Name by Rage Against the Machine with the lyrics "and now you do what they told ya." * Give Me a Chocolate refers to the Babymetal song Gimme Chocolate!!, which became an international breakthrough hit with over 100 million views on YouTube. Babymetal played at the Budokan multiple times within a year of releasing their first album, making them an obvious target for BiS and Watanabe's ribbing. BiSH * The SMELLS LiKE TEEN SPiRiTS fan club is named after a Nirvana song. BiSH also paid homage to Nirvana with their NEVERMiND tour and the yellow-on-black logo they used to promote it. * BiSH's indies label Sub Trax parodied the Seattle record label Sub Pop with both its name and its logo design. * The lyrics to BiSH: Hoshi ga Matataku Yori ni mention "lying, problematic foxes", which was another jab at Babymetal, who claim to be descendants of the "Fox God" and use fox imagery in their performances and merchandise. * The surprise pre-release version of THE GUERRiLLA BiSH was a CD in a transparent jewel case with no inserts and a minimal red label; this was likely inspired by the packaging of Kanye West's 2013 album, Yeezus. EMPiRE * EMPiRE's debut album THE EMPiRE STRiKES START!! is a reference to the Star Wars film The Empire Strikes Back. * The song DEADBODY contains a reference to Buddhism in the chorus with homophone kanji (諸行無情, shogyou mujou) to the concept of 諸行無常 (also pronounced shogyou mujou). The concept in Buddhism refers to the concept of impermanence, all physical and metaphysical events aren't real and are forever changing. The last two kanji in the EMPiRE lyrics are pronounced the same (無情) but refer to cruelty instead of impermanence creating complex wordplay about life heartlessly passing you by. HOLY SHiTS * The song WACK is SHiT makes numerous references to other famous songs and performers. To start, the title is a callback to the SAiNT SEX song WACK is FXXK. * The song itself samples the popular eurobeat song Scatman (Ski-Ba-Bop-Ba-Dop-Bop), making a subtle joke from the word "scat" in the song's title and the scat imagery from the song and music video. * The choreography for WACK is SHiT borrows moves from famous dance routines, including EXILE's "Choo Choo Train", Morning Musume's "Renai Revolution 21", Pink Lady's "UFO", Michael Jackson's "Thriller", J Soul Brothers' "R.Y.U.S.E.I" and Golden Bomber's "Memeshikute". Music Videos * The promotional effort for FiNAL DANCE involved a lot of fan service, and the song's music video is a style parody of many "summer single" MVs where bikini-clad idols dance on the beach. Some of the shots specifically resemble videos from their Avex label-mates AKB48 (Ponytail and Scrunchie) and SUPER☆GiRLS (Puri Puri♥SUMMER Kiss). Merchandise * The shirts sold at GANG PARADE's CHALLENGE the LIMIT tour referenced the logos of the bands Muse and Black Sabbath, and the animated film Akira. Other References * Hug Me's column for HMJM was named "Dopuroland", a pun on the theme park Sanrio Puroland, and "dopyuu", a slang for female ejaculation.